to speak, perchance to be heard

getting busy but

Life is hard work. It’s always been hard work. But knowing the stories of my family is sustaining– and also inoculating against all the cultural “hell in a handbasket” hysteria so common in the media these days. I’ve spent enough time with my ancestors to know that most people were far from perfect. Not in the 50s, not in the 30s, hell, not in the 1880s. Poor and vulnerable people have always needed to struggle to survive– and what’s remarkable, and inspiring, is that so many have found ways to do it. Screw royalty. I wouldn’t trade my g.g.grandfather’s story for anything.